Process of making sound-records.



J. 0. PRESCOTT & L. J. SCHRAMEK. PROCESS 0F MAKING SOUND RECORDS. APPLICATION FILED 1113.27, 1907.

91 3,765, Patentd Mar. 2, 1909.

ATTORNEYv UNITED sTATEs PATENT oEEicE.

JOHN O. PRESCOTT, OF SUMMIT, NEW JERSEY, AND LOUIS J. SCHRAMEK, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

PROCESS OF MAKING SOUND-RECORDS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented March 2, 1909.-

Application led Iobruary 27. 1907. Serial No. 359,700.

To all 'u2/wm it may concern.

Be it known that we, JonN O. PiiEscoT'r, a citizen of the United States, residing at Suniinit,in thecounty of Union and State of New Jersey, and Lotus J. Scilla-mink, a citizen of the United States. residing iu the city, county, and State of New York. have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Processes of Making Sound-lifec-y sound-records of the disk type as heretofore practiced has involved cutting the recordgroove i-n a tablet of waxy composition. coating the surface of this original reeoi'd with a conducting substance and .then electroplating thereon to forma matrix. This matrix could then be pressed into aftablet ot a suitable substance when reduced, as by heat. -to a plastic or semi-plastic condition to form a lduplicate; but the process as commercially practiced, has involved certain intermediate steps, including the making by an electro plating process of what is termed a duplicate original and making from this, again by electroplating, another matrix which is used for pressing duplicates, the purpose of these .steps being to provide. a metallic record tablet for makingother pressing matrices .when the one first made becomes worn by frequent use. rIhe employment of this process isopen lto several objections, .Among others; the o eration of electroplalting is laborious an time -eonsuming requires great care 4and a high degree of skill; for inst-ance, the applicationof plumbago or a similar substance to the original soundrecord to make its surface electro-conductive requires considerable time and the exercise of great care, since if this substance is too thick in any part of the record-groove, the matrix obtained from the recordwill be imteu metal came into contact therewith.

operation of elcetroplating is perforiue three times.

Our improved process involves the pros..

vision of a tablet in which the original. sound-record is cut ditiering from those heretofore used in that it will withstand changes of temperature ot' considerable degree without injury. Important advantages are secured by the use ot' such 'an original sound-record rather than a record as heretofore made consisting of wax or a waxy suhstance7 in making duplicate records by the electroplating prix-ess. "ith the wax records. t le greatest care is necessary in handliugthem and even when such care is taken, breakage and cracking of the records frequently occur before the electroplated inatrix can be made, such breakage and cracking in\ 'olviug considerable loss, particularly in cases where a selection by a well-known artist is recorded ou the record. Thus, the temperature ot' the solution in the electroplating bath' is usually lower than that of the atmosphere and tho change in the tem perature of the record when itis immersed iu the bath is very apt to cause crackiiw. Also the temperature of the record must not be raised too much since otherwise the Wax of the groove wall would bcc-omc softened andjthe undulations therein lost. By the employment ofl a record made of such niaterial that will withstand changes ot temerature of considerable degree without injury, these objections are overcome, breakage and cracking of the valuable original records are minimized and such great care in handlingr their), is unnecessary. The provision oi such original records also permits of ein loying a process of making dupli! Cates t crefroni iu which one or all of the objectionable electroplating operations are omitted. `VVith such original records, the matrix may be obtained by the simple proc4 ess of casting upon the original record. a material saving in time. skilled labor and the cost of producing duplicates being thus effected. lVith the tablets of waxy composition in which the record is cut as heretofore employe-d, such a method of making a matrix cannot be followed. as obviously, the record would be .spoiled as soon as the mol- By n'iaking the tablet ot' chalk or such other substanct as ma be used for a record tablet matrices may e injury to the groove Walls.

.removed from the record.

and will withstand a' comparatively high degree of heat, the process of casting may be employed in making the matrix and the ad- -vantages resulting' therefrom thus secured.

The steps in the process of making duplicate records subsequent tothe making of the matrix may be varied somewhat and may, if found desirable,vinclude one or more operations .of electroplating to obtain a duplicate matrix for pressing. le may, however, in accordance with our invention, make a duplicate of the original by pressing the matrix into a suitable tablet and this tablet may be of a material capable of withstanding a high de ee of heat so that duplicate formed therefrom byA casting. Y We will now describe more in detail the lpreferred' method of practicing our improved process, it being understood that in many of these details the process may be varied. The ptablet is tirst prepared from a very line chalkl powder. This is held together by'a suitable binder which may con- Sist of glycerin and glue and, if desired, a' small amount of gelatin. vWhen the powder .and tlaebinder have been thoroughly mixed,

a suitable quantity is subjected to heavy pressure in a shallow circular form to cause the material to take the shape of a thin disk. The sound-record is then cut in' one face of the disk in the usual manner by causing a cutting stylus to vibrate in accordance with sound waves while the disk and stylus are moving relatively. Since thc disk consists of impalpable chalk powder, the vibrations of the cutting stylus are faithfully preserved in the Walls of the groove and the i'ecord when completed can be subjected to aconsiderable degree of heat without danger of A matrix is now farmed from the original record by flowing metal thereon and for this purpose, the record may be placed in a circular (or annular' if the record is of annular shape) receptacle to conf-ine the fluid material so that the com ileted matrix will be of circular or annular' shape. Preferably typemetal reduced to a molten state by heat .is used for this purpose, a casting being thus made from the record to form the matrix, as this metal will readily flow into and completely lill the record-groove and preserve, in reverse, all the sinuosities' thereof when the matrix is Other metals, however, may be used with good results. A duplicate of the original record is then formed from the matrix and this may be done by electroplating. Preferably, -however, the matrix is pressed into a disk of Qa suitable composition reduced to a semiplastic condition, such for instance as line clay. When the material of the disk has hardenedv and the matrici has been withdrawn, a duplicate of the/original record is .nal and duplicate setuid-records can be made from this matrix by pressing in theusual manner.

By this process, one or all of the expensive operations of electroplating may be entirely eliminated and duplicate i'ecords equally as good as those made by the process heretofore practiced are obtained. Furthermore, lesstinie is required to produce the duplicate vrecords as the original record is ready to have the matrix formed thereon as soon as it is cut and as the casting operation requires unich less time than electroplating.

The steps in our process are illustrated diagrammatically in the accompanying drawing forming a part hereof.

'lV-e dol not wish to be understood as limited to the use of a process involving all the detail features set forth herein, .as many departures from the process as we prefer to employ it canbe made within the scope of our invention. Thus, the process of making an original record as above described may be employed although the matrix is made therefrom by electroplating and the process of making a matrix by llowing a metal upon the original recoi'd may be performed in other ways than that herein described as the preferred method. All such modifications of our process we consider within the scope of our invention and we aim to cover them by the terms of the claims appended hereto.

Having described our invention what We claim as new and desire to obtain by Letters Patent is:

l. The process of making sound-records which consists in forming a record-tablet of a material capable of withstanding contact with molten material without injury, supporting a recording stylus in contact with said tablet and moving said stylus and tablet relatively, vibrating said stylus in accordance with sound-waves while in engagement with and moving relatively to said tablet to fol-ni an original sound-record, casting a metallic matrix upon' said original soundrecord, and forming duplicate sound-records from said matrix, substantially as described.

2. The process of making sound-records which consists in forming a record-tablet of a chalk composition, supporting a recording stylus in contact with said tablet and moving said stylus and tablet relatively, vibratingl said stylus in accordance with soundwaves while in engagement with and` moving relatively to said tablet to form an original sound-record, and 'forming duplicate sound-records from said original, substantially as described. i

3. llfhc process of making sound-records ltablet relatively,

stylus in contact with said which consists in forming a record-tablet of an impalpable chalk powder and a suitable binder, supporting a recording stylus in contact with said tablet and moving said stylus and tablet relatively, impressing lateral vibrations corresponding to sound Waves on said stylus while in engagement with and movingr relatively to said tablet to form an origina (mnd-record, and makin(r duplicate sound-retords from said origina, substantially as described.

4. The proce-:s of making duplicate soundrecords which consists in forming a reeort tablet, supporting,` a recording stylus in contact therewith and moving the stylus and vibrating the stylus in accordance with sound-naves while in contact with and moving relatively to the tablet to form an original sound-record, casting molten metal upon said original record and hardening the metal to form a matrix, and making a duplicate sound-record from said matrix, substantially as described.

5. The process of making duplicate soundrecords which consists in forming a recordtablet of an impalpable chalk powder and a suitable binder, supporting a recording tablet and moving the stylus and tablet relatively, impressmg sound-waves on said st vlus while in engagement with and moving relatively to said tablet to form an original sound-record, castingV molt-en metal upon said original record and hardening the metal to form a matrix, and makinga duplicate sound-record from said matrix, substantially as described.

(3. The process of making sound-records which consists in cutting a sound-record in a tablet of a material capable of withstanding .f

lateral vibrations corresponding'ir to f' This siecilication sioned and witnessed. l"

this 35th day ot' February, 1907.

JOHN O. PRESCOTT. LOUIS J. SGHRLMEK. W it l `m-1nmuc l). \\'ooD, BvnoN Gr. HxnLaN, 

